Pumping at work

I am very excited to share our very first story submission! It's not about BIP per se, but pumping at work is also a very important part of exclusively breastfeeding your child. In fact, today is my first day back at work, and I will also be pumping in the workplace. Today's story took a lot of worry off my own mind!

Hi Elizabeth!  I saw your post on the February 2013 board on BBC and wanted to share a story.  I'm keeping pictures of LO off the Internet for now so unfortunately no photos!  Here's my story:

I'm an exclusively breastfeeding mom of a sweet four-month-old boy, and I happen to work in a mostly male accounting firm in downtown Chicago.  There's an acceptable mothers' room for pumping, so my transition back to work has gone mostly well.  Then last week one of the male partners in the firm signed me up for an all-day conference at a swanky corporate club without consulting me.  I was so nervous!  What was I going to do about pumping?  In a normal day, I pump every 2.5 hours, and I'd be at the conference 9 hours.  And I was going with two men from my firm.  I was so worried all week.  When would I pump?  What if I leaked?  Is this going to affect my supply?

Finally, I decided to call the private club where the event was being held.  Again, I worked myself up over it.  I texted back and forth with my mom, and she said I had to call to make a stand for working mothers!  I knew she was right.  I called right away and explained that I was a nursing mom attending tomorrow's conference, and would there be a private room available?  It took a few transfers, but eventually I spoke to someone who happily shared that I was welcome to use the women's locker room.  I'll take it!

Fast forward to the next day, and I arrive at the conference with my laptop bag, double electric pump, and portable cooler stocked with ice packs.  The locker room worked perfect.  It wasn't 100% private, but very nice and clean!  During my afternoon pumping session, a woman came in from the pool.  She did a bit of a double take when she saw I was pumping, and immediately doubts and self-consciousness started flooding my mind.  She's an older executive, she probably doesn't have kids... What if she complains to someone?  I couldn't have been more wrong.  Once I was all packed up she asked if I worked in the city and we struck up a conversation.  She has a 25-year-old, 23-year-old, and twin 22-MONTH olds!!  She said how nice it was to have a quiet place to pump because 25 years ago, there was nothing!  We shared war stories from being pregnant and commuting, and turns out we both puked in front of Union Station in our first trimesters!  :)

I had worked myself up over nothing.  I went home to my sweet boy with 10 ounces of the good stuff on hand and settled in for our post-work nursing session.  I wanted to share this story for all the other working and nursing mothers out there.  Sometimes I feel like it's such a taboo in the business world, even though I'm so proud of nursing my son.  I'm hoping my story will help someone else feel a little more comfortable!

Emily 

 

 

Thank you, Emily, for sharing with us! Isn't it funny how sometimes we can get so worked up over such a simple thing? Fortunately for women today, many business and workplaces are finding solutions so that nursing mothers can comfortably pump at work. From a personal standpoint, it's not so much the flashing my boobs that bothers me, it's the noise from my pump. I don't want to distract anyone from their work!

 

Also, here is today's photo submission, courtesy of m_odom42:

 

Who says breastfeeding can't be classy?